Bringing in Pivot Tables?

Question

Hi!

I am trying to automate a daily excel process that requires the use of a pivot table. Am I able to bring an existing pivot table into an Alteryx flow via an excel input? If so, am I able to refresh the pivot within Alteryx, or will I need to re-engineer the table itself within Alteryx?

Thanks in advance!

danilang · Accepted Answer

Hi @grsomer

The data read from the pivot table is the calculated data from the last time the file was refreshed/saved.   The decision of whether or not to duplicate the pivot logic in Alteryx should be based on the source of the data that feeds the pivot table.

1.  Underlying data is local to the Excel file and can only be changed by opening the file and modifying the data.  In this case, the pivot table data will always be in sync, so just read from the pivot

2.  The underlying data is external to the file, i.e. it's read from a DB.  When the database changes the new data will only flow to the pivot table once you open and refresh the Excel file.  If  you want the data in Alteryx to reflect the new pivoted data without having to open the Excel file and refresh the pivot, you'll have to recreate the pivot logic in your Alteryx workflow

Dan